Hiroshi Mikitani founded the company in February 1997 as MDM, Inc., and is still its chief executive. Rakuten Shopping Mall(楽天市場,Rakuten Ichiba) started operations in May 1997. In June 1999, the company changed its name to Rakuten, Inc. The Japanese word rakuten means optimism.[5]

In 2012, the company's revenues totaled US$4.6 billion with operating profits of about US$244 million.[6] In June 2013, Rakuten, Inc. reported it had a total of 10,351 employees worldwide.[7]

Portal and Media: Managing portal sites acting as gateways to the internet, and performing other activities;

Travel: Operating hotel booking and other travel-related websites and providing other services;

Securities: Providing services such as online securities brokerage;

Professional Sports: Managing a professional baseball team, planning and selling related merchandise and performing other activities;

Entertainment: Online video club.

The group's 2010 annual report shows that its online shopping business, Rakuten Ichiba, was Japan's largest online shopping mall, offering customers more than 95 million products from about 40,000 merchants.[16][17] It also had 9 million credit card customers and more than 75 million users in Japan.[17] As part of the group's globalization initiative, Rakuten Ichiba started offering international shipping.

Developments

In October 2005, Rakuten bought a 15% stake in Tokyo Broadcasting System, raising its stake in the broadcaster to 19%.[18] Rakuten later withdrew its bid and sold its shareholding back to Tokyo Broadcasting.[19][20]

Global expansion

2005

2010

To increase its global competitiveness, Rakuten decided to adopt English as the company’s official language from mid-2012.[25][26] That year, Rakuten also bought French online retailer Priceminister for €200 million[27] and US-based Buy.com for US$250 million.[28][29] The group had been a significant shareholder in Ctrip, a Chinese travel site until it sold its stake in the company in August 2007 and, in 2010, it announced a joint venture with Baidu in China (Lekutian).[30][31]

2011

After launching Indonesia's Rakuten Belanja Online, a joint venture in June the group continued its global growth the same month, snapping up Brazilian e-commerce firm Ikeda— since, renamed Rakuten Brazil. In July, it bought German e-commerce start-up Tradoria and rebranded it Rakuten Deutschland, and in September UK online retailer and e-commerce marketplace Play.com for £25 million (almost $41 million). After a 2010 UK government decision to impose Value Added Tax on UK-based companies' sales from the Channel Islands - until then exempt from the tax on shipments of goods worth less than £18 (about $28)[32] - Rakuten closed one of three Play.com warehouses on the island of Jersey.[33] In September, Rakuten took a minority equity stake in Russian online retailer Ozon.ru,dubbed 'Russia's Amazon', which had reported 2010 sales worth US$137 million.[34] A four-company-strong consortium, led by the Japanese group, invested US$100 million. Rakuten's stake was not revealed.[35] Rakuten announced an agreement to buy Canadian e-book reader company Kobo in November,[36][37] with the deal finalized in January 2012.[38]

2012

On 17 May, Rakuten announced that it was leading consortium investing $100 million in the Pinterest picture sharing social network— its partners were existing investors Andreessen Horowitz, Bessemer Venture Partners, and FirstMark Capital, and a number of investment 'angels'. That investment marked the start of a drive to expand Pinterest's presence in Japan and Rakuten’s 17 other global markets. "While some may see e-commerce as a straightforward vending machine-like experience, we believe it is a living process where both retailers and consumers can communicate, discover, and curate to make the experience more entertaining," said Hiroshi Mikitani, Rakuten chief executive.[39]

On 13 June, Rakuten bought Wuaki.tv, a Spanish video on demand (VOD) service/company that is one of the largest in Europe and the market leader in Spain, where it has over 600,000 registered users. That opened new opportunities, directly challenging Amazon, Netflix and others for domination of the VOD market— at first, in Europe and, later, elsewhere.[40] In November, Rakuten bought French online retail delivery company Alpha Direct Services. "Speed and quality of delivery is at the heart of any solid e-commerce proposition," said the Japanese group's Hiroshi Mikitani.[41]

By late 2012, Rakuten had also moved into online retail in Austria, Canada, Spain, Taiwan and Thailand and into the online travel markets in France— with Voyager Moins Cher.com— and China, Hong Kong, Korea and Taiwan— with its Tokyo-based international Rakuten Travel platform. In North America, Rakuten Golf made booking tee time online possible.[43]

2013

In May 2013, Rakuten acquired a majority share in "citizen commerce" site, Daily Grommet,[44] since rebranded as The Grommet.[45] In June 2013, Rakuten announced its acquisition of U.S.-based logistics and services company Webgistix.[46] specializing in fulfillment technology for e-commerce retailers. The acquisition is Rakuten’s second logistics investment outside Japan and enables prompt fulfillment in the U.S.

The initiative Choice in eCommerce was founded on May 8, 2013 by several online retailers in Berlin, Germany.[48][49][50][51][52][53][54][55][56] The cause was, in the view of the initiative, sales bans and online restrictions by individual manufacturers. The dealers felt cut off from their main sales channel and thus deprived them the opportunity to use online platforms like Amazon, eBay or Rakuten in a competitive market for the benefit of their customers.

2014

On February 13, 2014, Rakuten announced they have acquired Viber for $900 million.[57]

In late 2013, Rakuten Ichiba Japan launched a new scheme that allows US-based e-tailers to sell on Rakuten's Japanese E-commerce marketplace without a local address, bank account, or an entity based in Japan. In an effort to globalize the marketplace, Rakuten Ichiba is expected to welcome more international sellers in fiscal year 2014.

On May 27, 2014, Rakuten announce that it will open the doors to its flagship, Kashiwa Sato designed “Rakuten CAFE” in Shibuya, Tokyo on Thursday, May 29, 2014. The new venture will offer customers a menu featuring some of the most popular desserts and snacks from Rakuten Ichiba and will allow patrons to experience a variety of Rakuten services.[58]

On May 29, 2014, Rakuten Marketing acquired DC Storm, a UK-based technology company which specializes in marketing attribution modeling and data-driven marketing.[59]

In August 2014, Rakuten announced its purchase of Slice, a US company that provides online shopping services and sells business intelligence based on digital commerce measurement, for an undisclosed sum.[60]

In September 2014, it was revealed that Rakuten would acquire US rebate site operator Ebates Inc. for around $1 billion.[61]

2015

In March 2015, Rakuten has announced that it will soon accept Bitcoin across its global marketplaces. The company is putting its investment in Bitnet — a startup that raised $14.5 million last October — to work with this development. Bitnet, which was founded by ex-Visa execs and is rivaled by Coinbase and BitPay, will initially be integrated into Rakuten’s U.S. marketplace to allow customers to pay in BTC.

Next up, the new payment option will roll out in Germany and Austria, with other international markets to follow. Interestingly, there’s no specific mention of when Bitnet will be integrated into Rakuten Japan, which is the most prominent of its 12 country-specific services.[62]

2016

On February 12, Rakuten has confirmed that Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia marketplaces will be shutting down. About 150 staff are about to be laid off. The company did not give a specific reason for the closures, except to say that the moves are in line with a new roadmap.[63] On June 7, Rakuten announced plans to focus investment on France and Germany and restructure e-commerce marketplace operations in UK, Spain and Austria.[64]

On November 16, Rakuten announced it has agreed to a four-year partnership with one of the world’s most esteemed soccer clubs, FC Barcelona. The agreement will see Rakuten become FC Barcelona’s Main Global Partner and its first-ever Global Innovation and Entertainment Partner from the 2017-2018 season, with its name appearing on match-day jerseys.

Credit card fraud

In 2013, hundreds of Rakuten customers reported fraudulent credit card charges after making purchases from the site.[68][69]New Jersey police confirmed at least eight victims who were defrauded of $10,000 and had their social security numbers exposed and used to open accounts at online suppliers.[70]